两只老虎 (Two Tigers): Lyrics, Pinyin & How to Sing It With Your Baby

Quick answer: 两只老虎 (Liǎng Zhī Lǎohǔ, "Two Tigers") is sung to the exact tune of Frère Jacques. It's short, repetitive, and has simple built-in actions, which makes it one of the easiest Chinese songs for a parent with zero Mandarin background to start singing today.

The lyrics

Chinese	Pinyin	English
两只老虎	Liǎng zhī lǎohǔ	Two tigers,
两只老虎	Liǎng zhī lǎohǔ	Two tigers,
跑得快	Pǎo de kuài	Running so fast,
跑得快	Pǎo de kuài	Running so fast,
一只没有眼睛	Yì zhī méiyǒu yǎnjīng	One has no eyes,
一只没有尾巴	Yì zhī méiyǒu wěiba	One has no tail,
真奇怪	Zhēn qíguài	How strange!
真奇怪	Zhēn qíguài	How strange!

Where it comes from

The melody is the same as Frère Jacques ("Brother John"), which travelled into Chinese-language children's music and was given entirely new lyrics about two odd tigers — one missing eyes, one missing a tail. It's since become one of the most recognizable tunes in Mandarin-speaking childhoods, roughly the equivalent of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in an English-speaking household: nearly every child learns it, and nearly every parent already half-remembers the melody even before learning the words.

Because the tune is likely already familiar to you (even if you've only ever hummed Frère Jacques), this is often the easiest song on this blog to start with — you're really only learning new lyrics, not a new melody.

How to sing it with your baby

• Newborn – 6 months: Sing it during any quiet, face-to-face moment — nappy changes, after a feed, or as part of a wind-down routine. At this stage baby is responding to your voice and rhythm, not the words, so tone and repetition matter more than pronunciation.
• 6–18 months: Add the two built-in actions on the "strange" lines — cover your own eyes for méiyǒu yǎnjīng ("no eyes") and pat behind you for méiyǒu wěiba ("no tail"). Babies this age often watch your hands closely, which is exactly the kind of joint attention this song is good for.
• 18 months+: Encourage your toddler to do the actions themselves, and see if they'll fill in the last word of a line ("真奇..." — pause — "...怪!").

Continue building your song list

This is one of sixteen individual lullaby and nursery-rhyme posts on Twiglet Tales — see the full collection of Chinese lullabies and nursery rhymes for more songs at every stage, or start with the Growth Roadmap for a staged plan beyond songs alone.